The Virginia Department of Transportation has announced the proposed schedule for new sidewalks at Gloucester Point.

VDOT spokesperson Kelly Hannon said that preliminary engineering is expected to begin next March. The project will build 2,500 feet of sidewalk along Route 17, from Bellehaven Drive southbound to Lafayette Heights Drive.

Right-of-way acquisition phase of the project will begin in April 2020, while construction is to start in April 2021 and be completed in December of that year.

Project cost is $800,000, which Hannon said is a Smart Scale project for which state funding has been allocated.

Under Smart Scale, transportation projects are scored based on an objective, outcome-based process that is transparent to the public and allows decision-makers to be held accountable to taxpayers, a state release said.

Garrey Curry, Gloucester’s deputy county administrator, said last Tuesday that he is pleased that more sidewalks will be placed at Gloucester Point, an area of...